A year ago today a misdiagnosis and its consequent incorrect treatment took my mother from us. It was a premature death. Not because of her age, since she was 91, but because with more than nine decades she was independent, she lived alone, doing all her shopping and cooking, plus teaching sculpture, finishing crosswords daily after reading the newspaper, reading several books a month, and attending gym classes 3 times a week, even collaborating to count the number of repetitions of the exercises, thus helping the “teacher” who was usually confused. Her mind was better than mine today. She had a prodigious memory. I always joked that she would write my memoirs someday. And she also sewed and fixed clothes, invited her friends to tea, and invited me to have lunch and dinner as much as possible, using my favorite foods as a tempting excuse to see me more often. She was my number one fan and never missed any of my TV programs, read all publications on my blog, my travel stories or descriptions of daily reality.

Those who had gone through this painful experience told me that one learns to live with absences, one ends up accepting that one can no longer call her on the phone while driving to tell each other’s news, embrace her, or smell her aroma. One accepts that painful “nevermore” when a loved one leaves us forever. And one speaks to the ether in the hope that she is on another dimension but listening. One tells her the news, the frustrations and the joys of life. It is quite possible that she is not “out there” or that if she is, she cannot listen. But it’s worth trying it just in case.

I remember her every day of my life. I miss her many times a day. She gave me the best example that a mother can give: her love, her intelligence and culture, her way of being always ready to help and collaborate in everything with everybody. Every human being is irreplaceable. And the mother raises that equation many times over.

Although she promised to live to 100, which I wanted to believe, unfortunately she did not make it. I thought she was eternal and I was not mistaken. She is eternal in my heart. I love you mom.